Pedal Power: Steve Cummings on a Giro D'Italia job well done

A satisfied Steve Cummings after crossing the final finish line of the 2013 Giro in Brescia

Share

Get daily updates directly to your inbox

Thank you for subscribing!

Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email

Just over three weeks ago Pensby’s World Tour rider Steve Cummings (BMC Racing Team) anticipated the role that he would play, supporting team leader Cadel Evans, in the 96th edition of the Giro D’Italia.

He described the mental as well as the physical challenges of the twenty-one stage, three-week race around Italy, considered the likely impact of Italy’s changeable May weather, and spoke of his love for the Giro and the passion in Italy for this truly epic endurance event, once memorably called the ‘the race of the people.’ 2,100 miles later, his Giro completed on Sunday, Cummings’ assessments were accurate on all fronts.

His task throughout the race was to work with his team to safeguard Evans’ tactical positioning and, whenever possible, shield him from the debilitating effects of the punishing rain, wind, and snow that played such a part in this year’s race.

And, job done, he was amongst the race’s 168 remaining riders (from a field of 207 starting the Giro in Naples) who, on Sunday’s final stage, were warmly greeted by more than 300,000 cycling fans as they wheeled into the Northern City of Brescia for the race’s ultimate, seven-lap sprint of the city’s historic centre.

Speaking to Pedal Power, after crossing the finishing line, he was exhausted but clearly satisfied at playing his part in securing an unexpected third place on the podium for Evans.

He said: "We went to the Giro to help Cadel. The team did a really good job in keeping him in front and out of the wind when it mattered. It really is a demanding job in a Giro like this."

And, in a Giro in which top British contender, Bradley Wiggins (Sky), was forced to abandon with a chest infection, Cummings explained exactly what he meant by the word ‘demanding.’

He added. "Every Giro is hard, but this Giro was extra hard, because of the extreme weather and uncertainty in the last week of stage routes. There was a lot of sickness in the peloton. The masseur said you could hear the grupetto coming up the mountain first from all the coughing.

"I had 5 days of antibiotics, a chest infection and sinusitis. Half way through the race I went to hospital for a chest X-ray because I had similar symptoms to pneumonia. When you take this into account, it was a huge mental as well as physical battle.

"To get hammered by rain and snow one day, then get up and do the same thing again is tough."

And, in a season already loaded with a heavy racing workload, with one Giro behind him, what next for the resilient and determined Merseysider?

He is looking forward to a spell of rest and recovery in his home in Tuscany, and after that, he explains. “I’ll carry on with the rest of the season.”

The overall race winner’s pink jersey, the Maglia Rosa, was impressively won by Sicilian Vincenzo Nibale (Astana), and the huge crowd, enjoying the first full Italian sunshine in days, was jubilant at a well earned home nation victory.

But the fans also had a warm place in their hearts for another rider with strong Merseyside connections.

Manxman, Mark Cavendish, spent many days as a junior cyclist as part of Merseyside’s cycling community. And, on Sunday, in Brescia, to shouts of ‘Bravissimo Marco,’ arms aloft, he sprinted over the line to win the stage, his fifth stage victory of this Giro, and secure the coveted overall points winner’s red jersey, the Maglia Rossa.

At that point he entered history as the first British rider ever to win the points jersey in all three grand tours; Giro D’Italia, Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana.

In the rapturous podium celebrations that followed in the city’s elegant Piazza della Loggia, the huge crowd paid a moving tribute to their Italian campionissimo Vincenzo Nibali, but, minutes later, also roared approval for the Manx grand slam winner, as he was presented with three trophies; the final stage win, most combative rider in the Giro, and most treasured of all, the Maglia Rossa.

Amidst the ecstatic crowds it was easy to see how the Giro earned its reputation as the race of the people – a dramatic and colourful sporting event, free to view, with cycling stars accessible to all.

And later, as if to emphasise the point, a lone cyclist could be seen, wearing a deep red cycling jersey, weaving his unhindered and contented way along Brescia’s narrow streets through dispersing but delighted fans. He was heading towards his Omega Pharma-QuickStep team bus.

Not too many years ago this same cyclist was a competitor in junior races in Birkenhead Park and Wavertree Playground.

Now, a global sports super star, he is known admiringly by all Italian cycling fans as ‘Super Mark, Cannon-Ball, Cavendish.’